


The Interview

by YukiRiikus_Reading_Room



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Girl Power, Nat don't take no shit, Other, popular media, sexist interviewers, social stigma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-01-09
Packaged: 2017-11-24 05:56:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room/pseuds/YukiRiikus_Reading_Room
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha had never done an interview by herself before, but she wasn't worried.  Not until the interviewer started asking questions, anyways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Interview

Natasha wasn’t worried.  As a spy, she’d never really done interviews before - it would entirely defeat the purposes of stealth - but now that she was an Avengers, that sort of thing was expected of her.  So, when a Daily News show had asked for an interview, she’d accepted.  Fury was always getting on them about getting good press, and what better way than to talk to the people directly?

No, she wasn’t nervous.

But judging by the way half of the team was hovering just out of frame watching her, they certainly were.

“Cameras up in five!”

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?”  The nervous PA at her shoulder asked.  She nodded, sitting up a little straighter.

“And 3… 2… 1…”

“Hi and welcome back to The Daily Scoop, I’m your host John Gunther.  Today, we have a very special guest for all you ladies out there - the Black Widow herself, Natasha Romanoff!” 

She smiled at the camera like Phil had taught her, tucking her hair behind her ear.  Behind one of the cameras Steve smiled back at her nervously, Tony rolling his eyes. 

“So, you must be very busy running around with the Avengers all the time.”

“It’s a full time job keeping Earth safe, what can I say?”  She said lightly, the interview’s fake laugh rivaling even the edge of her forced smile. 

“And even through all that, do you still find time to hit the gym?  You look fantastic!  What’s your secret routine to beating back the bulge?”

Natasha swallowed, Bruce getting up out of his chair and walking off the sound stage before he could Hulk out, Tony following him to keep an eye on things.

“Not really.  I work out the same as the rest of the guys.”

“Really?  Is it a special diet then?”

Natasha breathed deeply, attempting to maintain composure.  This, she assumed, was what Phil had tried to warn her about - the sort of questions she’d be getting on her own weren’t the same sort they’d give them rest of the team. 

“No, generally I eat whatever I feel like.  Especially burgers and a beer, that’s the BEST snack after saving the planet from total destruction, let me tell you.”

“How DO you maintain that figure?”

“WHY does that even matter?  There are a lot more interesting things you could be asking me about.  “  She asked, her tone still pleasant even as her eyes drilled holes in her interviewer’s skull.  He cleared his throat, Clint hiding his face in his hands as he glanced at the teleprompter to see what was being asked next.

“So, women all across America I’m SURE want to know the answer to this: do you have any favorite designers?”

“Well, generally I’m biased towards Stark Industries, for obvious reasons.  Tony actually made me my new electropulse gloves custom.”  She grinned, crossing one leg over the other.  THIS was a question she could understand.

“Ha, you’ve very witty! I meant FASHION designers.”

“Oh.”  She said, her voice taking on a harsh edge that made Steve hide behind Tony.  “I don’t care about that.”

“Oh come on, what WOMAN doesn’t have a favorite designer?”

“One who’s been too busy saving the world on multiple occasions to CARE about clothes or designers or anything like that.”  She snapped back, gesturing wildly off camera at Tony.  “Besides, if it were Tony out here right now would you be asking him that question?  No, you’d be asking him about things that matter.”

“But these things DO matter to the women of America, and as a woman…”

“I’m an Avengers, which is why I’m here.”

“Yes, but…”

“No, you’re not going to continue to ask me about things that I don’t care about.  I’m Natasha Romanoff, code name Black Widow.  I work for SHIELD as an assassin and spy, and now as an Avengers.  During the battle with Loki in Manhattan, among other things I was the one to close the portal.  I’ve been running successful missions for decades, been to every country in the world, know how to fly, drive, or steer just about every vehicle in the world, and speak twenty languages fluently.  So don’t ask me what my favorite designer is,  because I don’t have time for that.  I just have time for things that matter.”

“The Black Widow everybody!” 

The clap track played, the interviewer nervously smiling at the camera until the director yelled cut.  As soon as they were off the air, Natasha punched him square in the nose, Tony, Steve, and Clint whooping and clapping offstage as she walked off the set towards them. 

“Now THAT’S the Black Widow we know.”


End file.
